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Quantification of states, corporations, nature or self has become pervasive in the past 40 years. The water world’s struggles are rife with, and shaped by, numbers, indicators, metrics and models. This review explores how the production, promotion and use of 'water numbers' conceals deeply political processes, hypotheses, worldviews, intents, old habits and new fashions. Whether embodied in scientific or expert practices, or in indicators, thresholds, water accounts or cost–benefit analyses, water numbers promote specific values and interests; they also obfuscate complexity, heterogeneities and uncertainties, they manufacture legitimacy and authority, and they act as control devices to shape behaviour We offer a more detailed analysis of water indicators that describe water scarcity, ecological status, progress towards SDG 6, and embody New Public Management principles. We end with a call for critical water studies to more forcefully engage with these debates, in line with the centrality of quantification in water management and policy.

The article analyzes the ideas of transhumanism and posthumanism, which appeal to new discoveries in the field of biomedical, information, cognitive and nanotechnology (NBIC-convergent technologies) in order to declare the possibility of their application in the issue of human «improvement». The relevance of the study lies in the fact that human transgression is carried out in line with the analyzed lines of thought, which indicates their anti-humanistic nature. This requires study, reasoned criticism and an appeal to positive humanistic concepts as a counterweight to anti-humanism. In the mainstream of transhumanism, a person is understood not as a concept, but as a construct, as a certain set of properties and components with varying degrees of reliability and value. The human mind is considered the most valuable, while the biological organization of a person is defined as flawed, and therefore requires intervention and correction, and in the future, a person should generally give way to a posthuman. The article provides a reasoned criticism of these ideas. The purpose of the article is to identify both the positive and negative sides of transhumanism and posthumanism, as well as to criticize the methodological foundations of these areas of thought – technicism and reductionism. Posthumanism does not require setting the limits of the existence of human civilization, like transhumanism, but here a person is viewed from an anti-anthropocentric point of view, that is, as a being without value, and no different from everything that exists in the world. The article shows that such ideas contradict both ideas about the evolution of nature and ideas about society and the system of human values. It is unacceptable to dissolve a person in the world of things, plants and animals. This contradicts both the history of nature and the history of mankind. In this study, such research methods as the method of historical and philosophical analysis and the method of comparison are used. The novelty of the research consists in comparing the positions and basic ideas of transhumanism and posthumanism, which makes it possible to identify their continuity in the development of anti-humanistic attitudes and to give a reasoned criticism of these directions.

In the context of socio-technical systems, traditional engineering approaches are inadequate, calling for a fundamental change in perspective. A different approach encourages viewing socio-technical systems as complex living entities rather than through a simplistic lens, which enhances our understanding of their dynamics. However, these systems are designed to facilitate human activities, and the goal is not only to comprehend how they operate but also to guide their function. Currently, we lack the appropriate terminology. Hence, we introduce two principal concepts, simplexity and complixity, drawing inspiration from how nature conceals intricate mechanisms beneath straightforward, user-friendly interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to discern the ontological assumptions of the financial regulatory paradigm to clarify the meaning of a paradigm shift and the significance of the macroprudential turn in global financial regulation. An ontological understanding of financial markets is a key requirement to understand the hard core assumptions of the financial regulatory paradigm because the conflation of distinct ontologies makes it impossible to maintain the internal coherence of the financial regulatory paradigm. In terms of the ontological assumptions of the financial regulatory paradigm, the macroprudential turn in global financial regulations after the 2008 financial crisis fell short of leading to a paradigm shift in global financial regulation since it brought about an explanatory rather than ontological change. Macroprudential ideas rejected the explanatory reductionism of existing microprudential regulation without abandoning its ontological individualism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Origins research currently rests on a vitalistic foundation and requires reconceptualization. From a cellular perspective, prokaryotic cells grow and divide in stable, colloidal processes, throughout which the cytoplasm remains crowded (concentrated) with closely interacting proteins and nucleic acids. Their functional stability is ensured by repulsive and attractive non‐covalent forces, especially van der Waals forces, screened electrostatic forces, and hydrogen bonding (hydration and the hydrophobic effect). On average, biomacromolecules are crowded at above 15% volume fraction, surrounded by up to 3 nm layer of aqueous electrolyte at ionic strength above 0.01 molar; they are energized by biochemical reactions coupled to nutrient environments. During cellular growth, non‐covalent molecular forces and biochemical reactions stabilize the cytoplasm as a two‐phase, colloidal system comprising vectorially structured cytogel and dilute cytosol. From a geochemical perspective, Earth's rotation kept prebiotic molecules in continuous cyclic disequilibria in Usiglio‐type intertidal pools, rich in potassium and magnesium ions, the last cations to precipitate from evaporatig seawater. These ions impart biochemical functionality to extant proteins and RNAs. The prebiotic molecules were repeatedly purified by phase separation in response to tidal drying and rewetting; they were chemically evolving as briny, carbonaceous inclusions in tidal sediments until the crowding transition allowed chemical evolution to proceeed toward Woesian progenotes, the Last Universal Common Ancestors (LUCAs) and the first prokaryotes. These cellular and geochemical processes are summarized as a jigsaw puzzle of the emerging and evolving prokaryotes. Their unavoidable cyclic fusions and rehydrations along Archaean coastlines initiated the emergence of complex Precambrian eukaryotes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantification of states, corporations, nature or self has become pervasive in the past 40 years. The water world’s struggles are rife with, and shaped by, numbers, indicators, metrics and models. This review explores how the production, promotion and use of 'water numbers' conceals deeply political processes, hypotheses, worldviews, intents, old habits and new fashions. Whether embodied in scientific or expert practices, or in indicators, thresholds, water accounts or cost–benefit analyses, water numbers promote specific values and interests; they also obfuscate complexity, heterogeneities and uncertainties, they manufacture legitimacy and authority, and they act as control devices to shape behaviour. We offer a more detailed analysis of water indicators that describe water scarcity, ecological status, progress towards SDG 6, and embody New Public Management principles. We end with a call for critical water studies to more forcefully engage with these debates, in line with the centrality of quantification in water management and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marketing systems, while being pivotal to contemporary progress, have been linked to multifaceted global challenges, notably increasing inequalities and accelerated climate change repercussions. These challenges are not natural phenomena, but rather, human-induced crises, emerging predominantly from flawed systems of perception and action. Unfortunately, these flawed perspectives are also embedded within research and theoretical practices, leading to overly simplistic and disjointed results. This paper champions the introduction and application of corrective metatheories, specifically targeting these tendencies of reductionism, to bring coherence to the various domains of existence – be they subjective, intersubjective, interobjective, or objective. Using Roy Bhaskar's philosophy of critical realism, this paper elucidates how this particular metatheoretical approach can address the complexities inherent to marketing systems. Through Critical Realism, the paper aims to challenge reductionist narratives, critique societal shortcomings, and promotes both individual and collective potentials to support overall flourishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C.S. Peirce offered an evaluation of Bentham's philosophy to the effect that on some points Bentham's performance was of great value, but essentially, he was 'a shallow logician' confined to analysis of 'lower motive'. This paper argues that Bentham's logic is deeply metaphysically based, multi‐levelled, and comprehensive. There are at least three constituent parts in his utilitarian logic: the first is his ontology, with its distinction between real and fictitious entities, and with pain and pleasure constituting the core real entities; the second is his reductionism in, and analytical view of, simple and complex pleasures and pains; the third is the distinction between private ethics and public ethics. Bentham's logic is staunchly based on empiricism and truth and he developed a pragmatic utilitarian solution to overcome the potential impasse of Hume's scepticism through a mechanism of reflection. Even the doctrines of belief and abduction embraced and developed by Peirce are contained in Bentham's utilitarian logic. Bentham would certainly take Peirce's philosophy as ipse dixitism. Peirce was not in fact a serious reader of Bentham and failed to employ the distinction between argument and argumentation in his study of Bentham's logic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unequal exchange in international trade lies at the crossroads of all the major contradictions of the current global capitalist system: class, spatial and ecological. Countering unequal exchange can offer the basis for a broad global social coalition demanding a new international economic and ecological order. It can unite the claims of social and ecological movements around a common agenda where global social justice meets global environmental justice. The objective conditions are provided by the common ground of concrete interests that binds together various political and social actors in the global South and North who are harmed by corporate neoliberal globalisation. Building the subjective conditions, however, requires overcoming theoretical reductionisms and political sectarianisms that contribute to the fragmentation of social struggles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our article titled, "How WEIRD and androcentric is sex research? Global inequities in study populations," we showed that the published sex research is dominated by male and WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) samples. The commentary on our article by Sakaluk and Daniel critiqued the dichotomous coding of WEIRD and non-WEIRD contexts. After acknowledging how the androcentric bias finding was disregarded in the whole discussion, we used this critique as an opportunity to expand our argument about the epistemic exclusion and invisibility of researchers and samples from the majority of the world in sex research. We think having this debate between two groups of researchers located at Western universities is at odds with our intention. Thus, we invited researchers from Global South countries to join the debate via a short survey, and expanded our recommendations from the original paper with the help of these voices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Mechanism" is one of the crucial concepts that have deeply influenced the evolution of scientific disciplines and philosophical systems. For the last few decades, this concept has again found itself at the center of the philosophical debate about science and scientific methods with the emergence of the new mechanical philosophy (NMP). The aim of this paper is to counter the argument that there is or should be an essential conflict between the modern mechanical philosophy (MMP) or the NMP and Christian theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The landmark Roe vs Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973 established a constitutional right to abortion. In June 2022, the Dobbs vs Jackson Women's Health Organization Supreme Court decision brought an end to the established professional practice of abortion throughout the United States. Rights-based reductionism and zealotry threaten the professional practice of abortion. Rights-based reductionism is generally the view that moral or ethical issues can be reduced exclusively to matters of rights. In relation to abortion, there are 2 opposing forms of rights-based reductionism, namely fetal rights reductionism, which emphasizes the rights for the fetus while disregarding the rights and autonomy of the pregnant patient, and pregnant patient rights reductionism, which supports unlimited abortion without regards for the fetus. The 2 positions are irreconcilable. This article provides historical examples of the destructive nature of zealotry, which is characterized by extreme devotion to one's beliefs and an intolerant stance to opposing viewpoints, and of the importance of enlightenment to limit zealotry. This article then explores the professional responsibility model as a clinically ethically sound approach to overcome the clashing forms of rights-based reductionism and zealotry and to address the professional practice of abortion. The professional responsibility model refers to the ethical and professional obligations that obstetricians and other healthcare providers have toward pregnant patients, fetuses, and the society at large. It provides a more balanced and nuanced approach to the abortion debate, avoiding the pitfalls of reductionism and zealotry, and allows both the rights of the woman and the obligations to pregnant and fetal patients to be considered alongside broader ethical, medical, and societal implications. Constructive and respectful dialogue is crucial in addressing diverse perspectives and finding common ground. Embracing the professional responsibility model enables professionals to manage abortion responsibly, thereby prioritizing patients' interests and navigating between absolutist viewpoints to find balanced ethical solutions. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: This paper aims to contribute to this special issue on interpretivist research methodologies and the phygital consumerist landscape by exploring some underlying issues within the specific context of luxury consumption. The paper starts with a critique of current research, drawing particular attention to problems of reductionism, poor representativeness and weak contextualisation in research that adopts a positivist epistemology. The paper then highlights some of the contributions that interpretivist scholarship is making, and can potentially make, to our understanding of the experiential and humanistic aspects of luxury consumption, presented in a nuanced, discursive and deeply contextualised manner. Design/methodology/approach: This commentary is informed by an in-depth examination of the methodology and approach adopted in the 327 most-recently published academic articles on luxury (from late-2021). Findings: This opinion piece suggests the need for a sea-change in the way that scholars approach luxury research in online, offline and hybrid phygital settings to capture and convey its true complexity, diversity, contingency and contextuality and its emotional and symbolic character, and to help ensure that it delivers findings that are of relevance and value to luxury industry practitioners. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper to look comprehensively and critically at the methodological approaches adopted by academics writing in the field of luxury consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jules Salomone-Sehr argues that an activity is cooperative if and only if, roughly, it consists of several participants' actions that are (i) coordinated for a common purpose (ii) in ways that do not undermine any participant's agency. He argues that guidance by shared intention is neither necessary nor sufficient for cooperation. Thereby, he claims to "topple an orthodoxy of shared agency theory." In response, we argue that Salomone-Sehr's account captures a different notion of cooperation than the sociopsychological notion shared agency theory has focused on. Furthermore, we argue that Salomone-Sehr's interpretation of (ii) is too demanding; it implausibly makes cooperation incompatible with exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some arguments against the assumption that ordinary people may share common knowledge are sound. The apparent cost of such arguments is the rejection of scientific theories that appeal to common knowledge. My proposal is to accept the arguments without rejecting the theories. On my proposal, common knowledge is shared by ideally rational people, who are not just mathematically simple versions of ordinary people. They are qualitatively different from us, and theorizing about them does not lead to predictions about our behavior. Nevertheless, models of action that assume common knowledge have a role to play in our understanding of collective rationality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La recherche est-elle nécessaire au soin en psychiatrie ? Pourrait-elle au contraire s'avérer contre-productive, et réduire son champ par le réductionnisme inhérent à sa méthodologie ? Sont dépliés dans cet article les spécificités du soin en psychiatrie, à travers l'histoire de notre discipline et son lien étroit avec la recherche clinique comme fondamentale. Ses principaux axes de développement sont ensuite détaillés au regard de leur impact sur le soin, puis est discutée, à la lumière des enjeux éthiques et épistémologiques de la discipline, la compatibilité entre la question du soin, dont l'essence même est de veiller au bien-être du sujet, et celle de la quête d'un savoir, qui vise souvent d'abord l'intérêt collectif et indirectement le soin individuel, sans pour autant en constituer le garant. Is research necessary for psychiatric care? On the contrary, could it prove to be counter-productive, reducing the scope of the field by the reductionism inherent in its methodology? This article examines the specific features of care in psychiatry, from the point of view of the history of our discipline and its close links with both clinical and fundamental research. Its main lines of development are then detailed, viewed through the lens of the ethical and epistemological challenges facing the discipline, in terms of their impact on care, and the compatibility between the question of care, and that of the quest for knowledge. The very essence of the former being to look after the subject's well-being, whereas that of the latter is often aimed primarily at the collective interest and indirectly at individual care, without necessarily guaranteeing it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Search for library resources may increasingly leverage linked data ontologies, in contrast to machine-readable cataloging (MARC) fields. Concerns about privacy and reductionism have emerged regarding protected identities like sexuality in linked data ontologies such as Wikidata. This study provides a Structured Query Language (SQL) methodology for search related to protected identities in MARC subject metadata; it distinguishes between linked data ontologies for search and taxonomies such as Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) embedded in MARC fields. Metadata may remain preferable to linked data entities to surface implicit content while respecting the privacy and varied experience of persons with protected identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a matter of debate whether the discipline independence in discipline formation narrows its interdisciplinarity. It is also less well understood how disruptive works emerge in investigative practice rather than a theory‐driven approach. Aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) is an atypical photophysical phenomenon, in which the whole (aggregate) is brighter than the sum of its parts (single molecule). Through measuring and computing the cognitive extent and evolution of research on AIE, including topics, epistemic‐social collaborative networks, interdisciplinarity, emergent concepts, core concept networks and knowledge flow, this study shows that a cross‐research scales concept and its practice can establish new bridges in the sciences and promote disruptive work. Focusing on mesoscale entities, scientists from many different branches of science are involved in theoretical research on mechanisms, as well as developing different AIE systems for applications. The data analysis in this study provides details showing how non‐reductionist concepts based on new scientific discoveries cross traditional disciplinary boundaries and aggregate interdisciplinary research. The emergence and evolution of the AIE field implies that scientists may be motivated to embrace nonreductionist ideas at different research scales, leading to a more permeable field boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the symposium held at Rutgers University. Topics discussed include challenges to responsibility presented by contemporary neuroscience, such as physicalistic reductionism, determinism, and epiphenomenalism. The speakers at the symposium include Michael S. Moore, who authored the book as well as six commentators who presented papers analyzing and critiquing Moore's work.

One of the modern forms of philosophical discussion about the essence of mentality is the dispute between (“classical”) physicalists (who take a reductionist position) and the so-called non-reductive materialists. Non-reductive materialists are property dualists who claim supervenient relations between physical and mental properties. Such a non-reductive scheme claims that mental properties occupy a specific ontological level and, as a result, have their own causal power. Perhaps the most effective physicalist counterargument against such a position is the Causal Exclusion Argument, which makes explicit several logical contradictions inherent in non-reductive materialism. One of the most famous physicalists who contributed to the formulation of this argument was Jaegwon Kim. Considering the logical aspects of the philosophical dispute between reductionists and non-reductive materialists is very important because the resolution of this issue has direct consequences for the construction of new anthropological theories and cosmological models. In particular, clarifying the nature of the phenomenon of emergence and determining the limits of reduction can either inspire a certain “descriptive relativism” in scientific theories or encourage the continuation of the search for the “fundamental” level of physical reality (to which any anthropological theory can ultimately be reduced). In this article, I analyze the most significant objections put forward by Ned Block, a wellknown apologist for non-reductive materialism, to the Causal Exclusion Argument. In conclusion, I argue that none of Block’s counterarguments can resolve the logical contradictions stressed by Kim.

Recent years have witnessed a rather controversial debate on what antioxidants are and how beneficial they may be in the context of human health. Despite a considerable increase in scientific evidence, the matter remains highly divisive as different pieces of new data seem to support both the pro- and the anti-antioxidant perspective. Here, we argue that the matter at the heart of this debate is not necessarily empirical but of semantics. Thus, the controversy cannot be resolved with the traditional tools of natural sciences and by the mere accumulation of new data. In fact, the term “antioxidants” has been part of the scientific language game for a few decades and is nowadays used differently in the context of different scientific disciplines active at different levels of scientific complexity. It, therefore, represents not a single expression but an entire family of words with distinctively different connotations and associations. The transcendent use of this expression from a basic to a more complex discipline, such as going from chemistry to physiology, is problematic as it assigns the term with connotations that are not corroborated empirically. This may lead to false claims and aspirations not warranted by empirical data. Initially, health claims may not even be indented, yet, on occasion, they are welcome for reasons other than scientific ones. To resolve this debate, one may need to refrain from using the term “antioxidants” in disciplines and contexts where its meaning is unclear, limit its use to disciplines where it is essential and beneficial, and, in any case, become more specific in such contexts where its use is warranted, for instance, in the case of “dietary antioxidants”.

The summer of 1922 was characterized by disturbing acts of violence when a group of over 100 armed White men attacked Black workers brought in as strikebreakers during the Chicago and Northwestern Railway strike in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This incident was representative of the racial tensions that resulted from the Great Migration, the upsurge of racial tensions all over the United States, and the interconnection between race and labor in the early 20th century. Milwaukee, under the socialist leadership of Daniel Webster Hoan, became a flashpoint for these tensions. The attempts of Hoan to mediate between White strikers and Black workers as the Ku Klux Klan activities became more rampant illustrate the complexities in dealing with the racial and labor realities of the time. The use of Black workers as strikebreakers not only augmented racial animosities but also exposed the tactical use of racial controversies within labor conflicts. This event is an example of the myth of class reductionism and the use of racial differences to undermine labor solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemist Jeremias Benjamin Richter (1762–1807) coined the term "stoichiometry" and proposed the "law of definite proportions." He is also commonly acknowledged as having been a student of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). This paper demonstrates how Kant's philosophy positively shaped Richter's approach to chemistry in the Anfangsgründe der Stöchiometrie (1792–1794) and outlines two ways in which Richter attempted to represent the chemical force in "pure intuition": (1) "reductionistic forces," in which qualitative features scale with the quantity of matter; and (2) generalized "abstracted forces," in which a plurality of dissolution- and bonding-properties are latent within the chemical in the manifold of space-time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent philosophy has seen a resurgence of the realist view of sensible qualities such as colour. The view holds that experienced qualities are properties of the objects in the physical environment, not mentally instantiated properties like qualia or merely intentional, illusory ones. Some suggest that this move rids us of the explanatory gap between physical properties and the qualitative features of consciousness. Others say it just relocates the problem of qualities to physical objects in the environment, given that such qualities cannot be derived from the non‐qualitative properties of objects, and it does not resolve the problem of consciousness either. I argue that such an outcome is welcome: if the physical world is full of explanatory gaps, then the mind–body explanatory gap is not so special. Moreover, the explanatory gaps regarding qualities of objects are less puzzling than the brain‐qualia gap. In order to counter the usual worries concerning realism about objective qualities, I introduce 'imperfect realism' as an alternative to colour pluralism and complex reductionism, which accommodates realism in the face of widespread perceptual error. I conclude with a discussion of how this 'multiple‐gaps view' sits better with a naturalistic framework compared to the Galilean‐Cartesian account of qualities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cultural turn has yet to fully reconfigure 'class' as a set of fictions, tropes, discourses and enduring culture-structures. Existing Durkheimian approaches have stalled at his middle period morphological reductionism. This paper constructs a more radical understanding in the late-Durkheimian idiom. It shows how class operates as a signifier in a language game of purity and pollution, virtue and vice. Taking a lead from studies of the 'unruly' working class, the paper opens up the more subtle pollution that attends to the mythical 'bourgeoisie' and its associated and imagined 'bourgeois' culture. As a sign system this class location is deemed inauthentic, sybaritic, and as strangely deadening to cultural vitality. Although commonly found in contexts of gentrification and commodification that involve class conflict, this critical discourse is also applied within the bourgeois milieu. Such needless auto-critique suggests a relative autonomy from determination by class struggle. The possibilities for this approach are illustrated at length with reference to a paradigm case: the highly bourgeois milieu of the composer Richard Wagner and his Bayreuth Festival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The humanities are centrally concerned with such human subjectivity—such thinking, feeling, and wondering—as goes into the appreciation of a painting or the absorbed and responsive reading of a novel. It is often argued that the intrinsic subjectivity of these experiences renders them inaccessible to objective science, which seeks to avoid subjectivity. However, this fallacious argument confuses an ontological and an epistemic sense of the distinction between subjectivity and objectivity. The subjectivity of "thinking, feeling, and wondering" describes the mode of existence of these mental states, whereas the objectivity of science describes a mode of investigation, and it is in fact very possible to investigate human mental life by means of objective methods. This article expounds the fallacy and examines its appearances in recent scholarly writings against the use of objective methods in the humanities. The fallacy, as is argued, promotes a widespread misconception that the use of objective methods in the humanities would entail a discounting, or "reduction," of human subjectivity. By countering this misconception, this article aims to encourage humanists who are drawn to empirical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constitutional theory is a mess. Disagreements about originalism and living constitutionalism have become intractable. Constitutional theorists make some arguments that seem clearly fallacious and advance proposals that are pie in the sky. One of the reasons for the mess is an overreliance by constitutional theorists on "outcome reasons," justifications that rely on the theorist's beliefs about what outcomes are good and what outcomes are bad. This outcome-drive approach is exemplified by the so-called "canonical cases" argument, which evaluates positions in normative constitutional theory on the basis of their counterfactual implications for a handful of prior decisions of the Supreme Court. Among the many problems with "outcome reductionism" (exclusive reliance on outcome reasons) is the reality that none of the fundamental and feasible options for normative constitutional theory can guarantee outcomes that that most citizens would find acceptable, much less optimal. Living constitutionalism produces constitutional outcomes that reflect the moral values and political ideology of Supreme Court Justices, but over the long run there is no guarantee that the Justices will do what any individual believes is required by justice. Decades ago, the Justices established a constitutional right to abortion, but recently they reversed course. Dramatic changes in constitutional law are inevitable given that the Justices are selected by the President and Congress, institutions that will change their political makeup in unpredictable ways over time. Outcome reductionism is not a sensible method for normative constitutional theory, but there is a better approach. Outcome reasons can be supplemented by process reasons such as legitimacy, the rule of law, and institutional capacities. The way forward for constitutional theory involves a holistic assessment of both outcome reasons and process reasons via the method of reflective equilibrium. The way forward requires a frank acknowledgement of the consequences of deep and persistent disagreement about fundamental questions concerning justice and the common good. And therefore, the way forward will require an acknowledgement that a legitimate constitutional order will require compromise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the concept of corporate responsibility and challenges its validity. The author examines the arguments made by defenders of corporate responsibility, particularly focusing on the work of Pettit. However, the author disagrees with Pettit's view and argues that groups cannot meet the necessary conditions for responsibility, such as self-control. The article also discusses different procedures for aggregating individual attitudes into collective attitudes and emphasizes the role of individual agency and responsibility in group decision-making. The author highlights the importance of considering manipulability and individual responsibility when assigning blame or praise for group decisions. [Extracted from the article]

It is now—at least loosely—acknowledged that most health and clinical outcomes are influenced by different interacting causes. Surprisingly, medical research studies are nearly universally designed to study—usually in a binary way—the effect of a single cause. Recent experiences during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic brought to the forefront that most of our challenges in medicine and healthcare deal with systemic, that is, interdependent and interconnected problems. Understanding these problems defy simplistic dichotomous research methodologies. These insights demand a shift in our thinking from 'cause and effect' to 'causes and effects' since this transcends the classical way of Cartesian reductionist thinking. We require a shift to a 'causes and effects' frame so we can choose the research methodology that reflects the relationships between variables of interest—one‐to‐one, one‐to‐many, many‐to‐one or many‐to‐many. One‐to‐one (or cause and effect) relationships are amenable to the traditional randomized control trial design, while all others require systemic designs to understand 'causes and effects'. Researchers urgently need to re‐evaluate their science models and embrace research designs that allow an exploration of the clinically obvious multiple 'causes and effects' on health and disease. Clinical examples highlight the application of various systemic research methodologies and demonstrate how 'causes and effects' explain the heterogeneity of clinical outcomes. This shift in scientific thinking will allow us to find the necessary personalized or precise clinical interventions that address the underlying reasons for the variability of clinical outcomes and will contribute to greater health equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in the field of sports sciences undergoes substantial turmoil and instability, stemming from both quantitative and qualitative research methods. This turbulence prompts the expansion of theoretical and empirical knowledge in the domain. Qualitative research, which can be approached through positivist or critical lenses, necessitates researchers to articulate their research philosophy and epistemological stance upfront. Notably, the methodological approach, rooted in intuitionism for analyzing social phenomena, undergoes similar shifts in sociology and sports management. This approach not only invites critique but also spawns numerous theoretical underpinnings. To counter reductionist tendencies in theoretical frameworks, the Multi Grounded Theory (MGT) emerges, aiming to harmonize intuitive and reductionist analytical methods within the framework of Hegelian thesis and antithesis. Hence, authors employing MGT move beyond the pure inductive approach in MGT by explicitly incorporating external theories. By bridging the gap between theoretical frameworks and empirical data, MGT promises to offer a holistic understanding of sports-related phenomena, empowering researchers to cause innovative theories and drive the advancement of knowledge in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal care occupies a paradoxical place in contemporary societies. It is at once reified as an inherent social good, and minimised, devalued, and pushed to the margins. The current 'care crisis' is bringing these tensions into sharp relief, fuelling renewed interest in care and its absences across a wide range of disciplines. In this article, we present an overview of five key literatures for comprehending informal care, with a focus on issues of inequality and injustice. These bodies of scholarship—which, respectively, emphasise the political-economic, affective, policy, geographic, and ecological dimensions of informal care—together furnish a critical conceptualisation of informal care that both recognises care's social value, and underlines its embeddedness in systems and structures of oppression. Informal care, we show, evades easy definition, requiring a sophisticated array of critical concepts to capture its everyday complexities, avoid reductionism, and ultimately enable individual and collective flourishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The claim that phenomenal consciousness essentially involves self-consciousness, in the sense of mineness, has gained momentum in recent years. In this paper, I discuss the main non-phenomenological, theoretical argument for this claim: the so-called "transcendental argument" for universal mineness (Zahavi 2018, p. 711), which, in essence, corresponds to Shoemaker's critique of the perceptual model of self-consciousness. I point out the potential of the transcendental argument, but most importantly its limitations. And I show that, even if successful, the argument cannot vindicate the claim of an essential connection between phenomenal consciousness and self-consciousness. Since the transcendental argument is depicted as the "central argument" for universal mineness (Zahavi 2018, p. 711), I contend that, in view of its failure, the claim that all of my experiences have to be given to me as mine, all of your experiences have to be given to you as yours, etc., appears insufficiently substantiated. The idea that there is an essential connection between phenomenal consciousness and self-consciousness must be called into question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Non-Reductionist holds that personal identity is a matter in whole or in part of "further facts," facts over and above those about psychological and physical continuity and connectedness. If Non-Reductionism is true, then it is possible for there to be "nonsymmetrical fission cases" in which there is nonsymmetry with respect to further facts such that the fissioner is identical with one of the fission products but not the other, even though there is symmetry along each branch with respect to non-further facts. If it is also true that the fissioner gets what matters with respect to the fission product to which the fissioner is not identical in those cases, it is possible for identity and what matters to come apart. If the Non-Reductionist is to hold fast to the importance of identity, she must demonstrate that the fissioner does not get what matters in survival with respect to the fission product to which he is not identical in cases of nonsymmetrical fission. One way to get this result would be to demonstrate that Non-Reductionism in and of itself has the implication that the fissioner does not get what matters with respect to the fission product to which he is not identical in the nonsymmetrical fission case. Parfit offers an argument that is meant to show that the Non-Reductionism qua Non-Reductionism has just this result. I outline Parfit's argument and suggest that it does not work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue that thinking in terms of process metaphysics and seeing the mind and mental disorders as processual in nature allows for a more complete understanding of mental disorders than is allowed by non-processual frameworks, while it also allows us to incorporate what we currently know about them. In addition, it can address problems in psychiatry that arise when we ask the wrong kinds of questions that naturally arise within a non-processual metaphysical framework. In this paper I address the problems of reductionism, essentialism and dualism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional reductionism characterises inter-theoretic reduction as the recovery of the upper-level behaviour described by the reduced theory in terms of the lower-level reducing theory. For instance, finding a statistical mechanical realiser that plays the functional role of thermodynamic entropy allows to establish a reductive link between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. This view constitutes a unique approach to reduction that enjoys a number of positive features, but has received limited attention in the philosophy of science. This paper aims to clarify the meaning of functional reductionism in science, with a focus on physics, to define both its place with respect to other approaches to reduction and its connection to ontology. To do so, we develop and explore two alternative versions of functional reductionism, called Syntactic Functional Reductionism and Semantic Functional Reductionism, that expand and improve the basic functional reductionist approach along different lines, and make clear how the approach works in practice. The former elaborates on David Lewis’ account, is connected with the syntactic view of theories, employs a logical characterisation of functional roles, and is embedded within Nagelian reductionism. The latter adopts a semantic approach to theories, spells out functional roles mainly in terms of mathematical roles within the models, and is expressed in terms of the related structuralist approach to reduction. The development of these frameworks has the final goal of advancing functional reductionism, making it a fully developed account of reduction in science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use recent developments within philosophy of science and within certain strands of linguistic research to throw light on each other. According to Ronald Giere's perspectivist philosophy of science, the scientific understanding of reality must proceed along different, mutually irreducible lines of approach. Giere's proposal, however, leaves unresolved the problem of how to integrate the ever‐growing multitude of highly diverse scientific accounts of what is, after all, one and the same world. We propose a technique for the alignment of different perspectives that will permit cross‐perspectival explanation, and thus allow for a more holistic picture of reality to emerge. With respect to modern linguistics, however, Giere's perspectivism merely legalises a de facto state of affairs, as this discipline displays the peaceful coexistence of a multitude of different theoretical perspectives. Still, this makes it all the more important to show how the different aspects of language picked out by these different perspectives combine to form one single complex reality. During our investigation, a largely overlooked type of reduction within linguistics comes to light, prevalent in classical as well as current work within speech act theory and politeness theory. We suggest how a more holistic understanding of language can be attained through our technique for integrating different perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]